This blog is all about my first book.

December 09, 2006

Challenge - Learning To Be Faithful

Click the play button to listen to this lesson.

For some time now I've been struggling with my weight, and no, it's not because I'm under-weight.

Every now and then it will begin to really bother me so I'll decide that it's time to get in shape. I'll set aside an hour and work real hard and get good and sweaty. Then force myself to cut down on all that bad stuff I'm not supposed to be eating. All of this hard work and discipline usually lasts for a couple of days, maybe even a few weeks if I'm really good about it.

The problem is that I still have bad habits. It's still too easy to sit in front of the tube and mindlessly stuff myself with chips, crackers, and cookies. And it's still too hard to get up everyday and get some exercise. I soon find myself back where I started because my habits haven't changed.

When starting a self-improvement regimen it's easy to try to do too much too quickly. We want fast results and we often get discouraged if things don't change as fast as we wanted. When we don't lose those extra pounds in two days we give up and go back to hating how we look, feeling tired all the time, and wishing we could just wake up some day and be different.

The good news is: We can wake up different. Not that we will wake up tomorrow and everything in our lives will be drastically improved, but we can start forming new habits anytime we want, and over time, those new habits will change our lives.

By changing our habits we take decisive action that will help us get out of our ruts and reach our dreams.

Jim Rohn talks about the old proverb: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. He asks, "What if that were true?" If it were true, it would be something simple that we could do to improve our health. But Jim points out that it doesn't work if we eat seven apples on Sunday. It's all aboutthe things we do regularly, the habits we develop, that effect how we live each day of our lives.

Albert E.N. Gray wrote a speech entitled: "The Common Denominator of Success." In the speech he said, "The secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do." In other words, they got out of their comfort zones and formed the habit of doing the things that enabled them to consistently succeed.

When forming a new habit, like an exercise program, it's best to start off small. Spending a small amount of time consistently is better than spending a lot of time or effort on something occasionally. Once we're consistent with our small new habit we can start building on it and start doing more.

When David found himself faced with a giant named Goliath, he had already formed good habits that helped him defeat Goliath. He was able to turn what could have been a disaster into victory that helped him reach his dream. Instead of reacting to Goliath in fear, he had developed the habit of trusting God and focusing on the outcome he wanted.

How do you react when faced with a problem? Do you get discouraged when things don't go as planned? Do you give up on your dreams when difficulties arise? Think about it for a few minutes and see if you have developed the habit of quitting when the going gets tough.

Will you make a commitment right now to do what David did? When you're faced with a challenge, will you trust God and focus on the outcome you want?

We will always face difficulties when we pursue our dreams, so we need to develop the habit of trusting God.

How do we develop the habit of trusting God? It helps to develop some simple habits. The first one is the habit of being thankful.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 the apostle Paul writes, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

A simple way of starting small would be to take a piece of paper, or a 3x5 card, and in big letters write: "Thank-you" on it. Then tape it to your alarm clock. When you reach over to shut of your alarm clock let the sign remind you to say, "Thank-you" for a new day. We'll talk more about how to build on this little habit when we cover chapter nine on Celebration.